Pardon Me

Pardon me for not sharing this ultrasound sooner. This was our latest ultrasound that was taken on 12/8/08. I hope when I go to the doctor next week I can share an updated picture of our third blessing. This is a profile shot of our little peanut:)

Christmas 2008 Highlights

As the Christmas decorations come down and our house tries to resume order, I have been thinking about this Christmas season. This has been a wonderful Christmas-lots of family time, very little traveling, and overall we have been healthy except Mike's stomach bug last week. I have so enjoyed this break, that I just had to make a list of our Christmas highlights (these are in random order!)

1) Hearing David say "WOW" for every present he opened.
2) Watching my 80 year-old grandfather play Wii with my boys!
3) Relishing a few small bites of peanut butter fudge at my Mom's house. I am not suppose to eat peanuts due to Kyle's food allergy during pregnancy, but those few small bites were worth it!
4) Watching my husband and son read from the bible Christmas Eve.
5) Hearing my brother lead Christmas carols Christmas Eve. My brother has a beautiful voice that I grew up hearing very often in church. Now it is a treat to hear him sing.
6) Kyle's Christmas Eve shenanigans (read previous post). It was annoying at first, but I know Mike and I will always remember that night!
7) The fact that Mike and I bought each other the very same CD because we both like this song right now. I will post more about this later on.
8) The fact that Mike bought me the new Beth Moore bible study, Esther. This is significant in our home right now because IF this baby is a girl, that is one of the names that I have been lobbying for. Mike doesn't dislike Esther, but there are lots of other girls names he prefers. He knew buying that bible study will fuel the Esther fire in me and he STILL bought it:)
9) Seeing my boys in their cute Christmas jammies Christmas Eve/morning.
10) The potato casserole that was served on Christmas Eve-I make the exact same casserole, it just tastes better when someone else makes it!
11) Seeing David become quite the rocker with his new guitar.
12) Watching David box on our new Wii. I will try to capture a picture and post it:)
13) Dressing up and going out on a real date with my husband. We had party to go to for a friend of Mike's at work, and we had a great time. There was adult food, adult conversation, and the kids were at my parents for the night!
14) Wearing my first maternity anything to the party mentioned above. I am really not showing, but it was fun to buy and wear something maternity:) I will post later on about my first maternity buying experience with this baby. Wow, times have changed. I certainly do not want to wear anything resembling a tent, but I really do not care for anything skin tight either.
15) Last but not least,I heard a pastor speak on Christmas Eve about God's plan for his son. God could have chosen that his one and only son come to Earth in the most glorious palace with the wealthiest people, but instead God chose for his Son to come to Earth by the most humble means-to a young, poor couple born in a stable. I have heard the Christmas story a bazillion times, but that point sunk in to me on Christmas Eve. God could have chosen for Jesus to come in a blaze of glory and wealth, but he humbled himself for us.

Happy New Year! May 2009 be full of blessings for you and your family:)

Christmas 2008

This is one of the pictures that Kyle took in the middle of the night of their new water slide:) He was so excited about this that he took several pictures of this one. I wish my camera had a timer on it to know exactly what time this picture was taken:)
David and his beloved guitar:)

Kyle reciting John 3:16 on Christmas Eve from the bible. On Christmas Eve my boys both sang and signed Happy Birthday Jesus-they were so precious!

We are beyond exhausted, but that is Christmas with two wild boys! We had a wonderful few days visiting with family, eating good food, and celebrating the birth of our Savior. I realized that my morning sickness is going away a bit, and for some odd reason other people's cooking tastes really good!!:) If only my Mom could come cook our meals for the next 6 months or so....

Anyway, I just had to share some pictures from Christmas. This has been the best Christmas due to my boys excitement and also because we have had nothing major on the agenda. To have two odd weeks or so to do nothing but be together is a very wonderful gift.

On Christmas Eve day, my boys received a Wii, and frankly I haven't seen much of Kyle. He played so hard yesterday on it that he wore out his socks! Kyle has really made this a memorable Christmas. Christmas Eve we got home around 10:00, but Kyle had a hard time going to sleep. After finally falling asleep, he woke up at 2:00 a.m. and went and checked out what Santa had left him. He was so excited that he didn't go back to sleep until 3:15 or so. Then he woke up AGAIN at 4:00 and came and told me everything that Santa had gotten him. He couldn't rouse any of us up to come with him, so he grabbed my camera and took pictures of everything that he got. He opened up all the stockings and took pictures of the contents and then packed them again. Mike finally made him sleep on the couch until he woke up again at 7:00 a.m. and we all joined him!

David made Christmas memorable due to his new guitar/microphone. For about a month or so, David has consistently said that he wanted Santa to bring him a guitar. Sure enough, there was a guitar with a microphone under the tree for him. He has made us belly laugh with that thing! He is adorable on it and really looks like a rocker:) I don't think the pictures will do it justice! He also got Better Batter Baseball and is so good at it already:)

Even though we are worn out from Kyle's house prowling Christmas Eve, it has truly been a Christmas to remember:)

Slow Learner

God clearly knows that I need repetition when learning. This week I have been focused on that 1 Samuel verse (read previous post) where it clearly states that Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Well, I must not have gotten it the first go around.

Yesterday I had the day off from preschool. I had a list a mile long to accomplish and my morning sickness kicked in right during the first stop. My last stop of the day was to go to Kyle's school to volunteer at a Christmas function. I had to be there at 2:00, but I skidded into the post office to mail something at 1:48. I figured I could still make it until I saw the line at the post office.

Oh my, it was a mile long despite all registers being open. I took my place in line and watched the clock. I finally realized that the outer two lines were moving along, but this sweet couple in the middle obviously had the line backlogged. Several postal employees were trying to help this couple. They had all their items laid out on the counter, papers flying everywhere, and they just seemed to have no clue.

Well, here comes the heart lesson. My foot started tapping as the clock inched towards 2:00. Kyle's has the type of personality that would be stressed if I said I would be there at 2:00 and I was not. He gets very nervous about issues like that. Anyway, I kept watching this poor couple. They had no clue what they were doing and really had created quite a stir at the counter. I was standing there wondering why they had not put that package together prior to the post office, or why they didn't have the supplies they needed before the post office. I was pretty frustrated with them by the time I got up to the line beside them.

As I smugly put my neatly packaged item on the counter with a smile, I glanced at that couple. The Dad caught my eye. He then said, "Sorry for the mess, our son was just sent to Iraq for the first time and we are trying to send him Christmas presents. There are specific packing rules for military overseas, and this is the first time we have mailed him something."

Oh dear... my heart literally pounded. Here I was all frustrated at these people for clogging up the post office lines when I need to be somewhere and God love these people. They just put their one and only son on a plane to who knows where to fight for my freedom. I have no idea how much my package was that I sent- I just shoved bills at the clerk and got out of there. Oh dear, once again I had to learn that heart lesson the hard way.

See, my heart is so tender to those people because I too have sons. I cannot imagine the anguish and pride in their heart that their one and only son is gone this year for Christmas to serve our Country. Their faces stuck with me all day long. I know on Christmas day as I am loving on my sweet boys I will think of these people. I know they live here somewhat locally and I wished I would have gotten their names or even their son's name. I was just to appalled at my own behavior to think straight. I am not a big tattoo fan, but perhaps I need to tattoo 1 Samuel 16:7 on my forehead-God is clearly trying to get me to understand this message this Christmas season.

"The Lord said to Samuel, Do no consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7

Thanks Lord, I think I have it this time:)

By the way, I was not a minute late in Kyle's eyes for the party. His class was one of the last to come in and he never noticed that I was eight minutes late:) To him, it looked like I had been serving hot chocolate the whole time!!!

It happened...

I should have seen it coming. I was attending a Christmas function last night and another Mom came up to me to congratulate me on the baby. She then asked my age and I should have known right then and there where this was headed. I told her that even though I felt 90 today, I was truly only 33. I thought that was more Christian than what I really wanted to say!! HA!:) Thankfully God's grace saved me once again from saying something my grumpy, nauseated self wanted to say.

Anyway, we were chatting about who my OB was (a cool dude I really like by the way and I have never ever ever had a male OB), and she then piped up and asked if I was worried. I knew exactly what she was getting to, but I wanted her to say it. She then asked if I was going to do all that testing, and I politely said "no." She then replied with an "oh really, I would have thought with your high risk situation that you would have to go to specialist or something."

I will not share the rest of the conversation even though I pray God's grace and not my venom came forth from me. I took that opportunity to explain to her that all that testing means nothing to someone who views life as a gift from God and to be cherished as such. She shook her head in agreement with me, but frankly I just wanted to SCREAM!!!! Why could she just not have said congratulations and moved on? Did she want me to break down and sob that I might have another David?

This is also frankly ironic that this woman would imply that having another David would be a negative thing, because today I was cleaning out a drawer and found my Beth Moore bible study on King David. (I had bought a gift card for a teacher and had "temporarily misplaced it")! Anyway, I started the bible study right after David's birth and just recently finished it with a group of women here in the community. David can be a challenge to raise, but not due to his Down Syndrome as much as his red-headed adamant self!

Reading the account in the bible where David was chosen by Samuel to be the next king truly brings me to tears. David was Jesse's least likely son to be chosen as the king. But 1 Samuel 16:7 says it all- "The Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

No wonder this sweet woman was all worried about me having another child with DS. Man cannot get over David's imperfections, but the Lord looks only at our heart. For David that is wonderful news, because his heart is only full of love. Yes, David has a chromosomal abnormality but just like King David he can be fully used to serve God.

I will choose to go to bed tonight with that knowledge in my heart versus the grumpy "can you believe she said that" attitude that I would really like to hash out with Mike all night!!! I too need to remember that God looks at the heart-perhaps beeping at that sweet old man that wasn't responding to the green light fast enough for me today would qualify as one of those teachable moments for me that God looks at our heart. Hopefully this sweet old man has hearing issues and didn't hear the loud beep of my Honda Pilot this morning. Wherever he is, I pray that he will understand that I just needed some Gatorade to get through the morning and I really meant no harm:

Had a bad day

You know, sometimes life is just difficult. The Christmas season is truly magical, but lets be honest-it is exhausting!! Two weeks ago when I was so sick with pregnancy and bronchitis after our big Thanksgiving trip, My Mom felt sorry for me and came and decorated our tree after Kyle assembled it. It was beautiful, but one day last week I came home from preschool ready to sit beside our beautiful tree and read a book and lo and behold, look what I found. Yes, the tree REALLY fell down. The stand actually broke and down she fell.

I couldn't even respond. We actually had to take it all apart and borrow an extra tree from my parents. Since my pregnancy sickness is not going away and actually getting worse,I begged for mercy and pleaded to just be done with it. Mike called me a scrooge and away he went to retrieve another tree. Last night I finally put the new tree up:) It is beautiful and so far so good it has not toppled over:)

It has been a rough few weeks around here. I have been pretty sick and bless Mike, he has been filling in the gaps. The kids had the stomach flu over the weekend and lets just put it this way, our comforter is at the dry cleaners:) I have never done so much laundry in my life:)

We are excited about the upcoming Christmas break. We have nothing on the agenda except family and Christmas during the whole two week break. It sounds heavenly to me and in the meantime I will be on Christmas tree patrol checking that base and waiting for another topple:)

The Gift of the Unexpected

Today I had an appointment with my OB doctor. I am officially 12 weeks along and I was so excited when the doctor chose to do another ultrasound. My checkup went very well with low blood pressure, slight weight lose due to sickness, and good results from last month's blood work.

The doctor did an ultrasound to confirm the due date of June 29th. Little Peanut came on the screen and I know this is my third go around and this was unexpected for us, but big crocodile tears rolled down my face. I was just so in awe of God's plan that he chose to bless us at this stage in our life with this blessing. I feel that I appreciate this gift so much more because of it was so unexpected.

While I am confessing to tearing up over little Peanut's picture, I also have to admit tearing up over the bible story of Jesus' birth today at preschool. My preschool class is on letter J, which is so appropriate to spend the next two weeks before Christmas break studying Jesus and his special birthday. I had a CD for the children to listen to that told that special story over 6 sweet little Christmas carols. I told the children to listen to the story and then sing along with the songs if they knew them. Most of the children did of course, and to hear that amazing story of two young, humble parents making room for the King of Kings birth in that stable paired with the voices of 7 sweet four-year olds singing just did me in. I was so moved and touched. There will be very few events that I attend over the next few weeks that will come as close to holy as today. If you need a little touch of the true meaning of Christmas, come by my preschool room any morning to truly be blessed. These children may have a list a mile long for Santa, but today their hearts were totally focused on the Savior that came to Earth as a babe to change us all forever.

Thanksgiving

Mike and his brother Daniel with all the boys at the football game. It was chilly at the game, but we had a tailgate party for Kyle's birthday with chicken tenders, french fries, and a cookie cake that we smuggled into the game.

The boys at the table eating Thanksgiving dinner. Kyle was too busy to get back outside to play:)

Kevin and David played well together-here they are at the football game:) We always wondered where David's red hair came from until Kevin was born-clearly that is a Robinson trait:)

All the Robinson boys-Andrew (11), Christopher (8), Kyle (6), David (4), and Kevin (3).

I am finally coming out from under our piles of laundry from our trip to Louisiana to post some pictures from our trip. Kyle and David had fun playing with their cousins and Mike is always thrilled to get to see a Louisiana Tech football game. I was not too whiny a traveler this time, except I did get really sick on the way home. Poor Mike!

On the road....

As I write this we are heading down the road to Louisiana for Thanksgiving to spend some time with Mike's brother Daniel and his family. My boys are excited to see their cousins and Mike is thrilled about being in his "homeland." I have to admit that I am the worst traveler ever and I truly feel sorry for Mike listening to me whine the whole way. So far so good, yesterdays sickness has not resurfaced today. I will post pictures from our family adventure later in the week:) Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Snow Day!

This is our second snow day this week:) The kids are thrilled and today there is even enough snow to warrant breaking out the sleds! Kyle loves it and David actually has enjoyed it more this year than ever before. I just had to share some pictures of our snow day!

Family Update

Can you believe this pregnancy counter? My sweet friend, Tracy sent me the link to count down the days until the big event. My, how time has changed since we did this 5 years ago:)

Speaking of my other children, Kyle is so excited that he cannot contain himself. He is obsessed with the week-by-week guide that tells you what is developing each week. Of course he is rooting for a brother, and he announced at dinner last night that week 11 is the big week because that is when the male part will develop! :) I just about rolled in the floor:)

David is still insisting that he is the one and only baby in this family:) If you ask him where our baby is, he will respond by pointing to his chest and saying "me!" That adjustment may be a little bit interesting...

Overall I am exhausted and nauseous. I forgot how exhausting this process really is and then you add my wild boys to the equation, it is no wonder that I am asleep between 8-8:30 each night:)

We have gotten so many fun emails and congratulations from our friends and family. We thank you all for your support and love during this time. I think that this has been such a shock to us all, but the shock is wearing off and we are really getting excited about this new addition. Mike has learned that there are lots of other Daddies out there that had a baby at 40 or even beyond:) I think he is picturing himself on a walker with an oxygen tank at his/her high school graduation. He has learned this week that he will not be the only one qualifying for AARP at graduation! Life is so full of surprises! Blessings to you all!

Unexpected Surprises

I don't have the words adequate to express how thrilled we are to announce that we are expecting our third baby June 29th, 2009. Those closest to us know that this is truly an unexpected blessing from God and we are grateful to Him for this gift.

Kyle is thrilled and said to me "I always wanted to be a family of five" and then went on to say that the current ultrasound picture looks a little bit like a zombie! He is beside himself and is already thinking of names (from his favorite tv shows of course) to name the baby.

I feel so out of date since it has been 5 years since I was pregnant. I was a nervous wreck at the doctor this week and certainly did not act like a veteran mom. So far little peanut looks healthy with a booming heart beat, head, and body.

At lunch today with my girlfriends the topic of boy versus girl came up. I know that people will want a girl for us since we have two wild boys, but this is just so amazing to us that I am just thrilled to be going down this magical road again:)

We thank you in advance for your prayers and support. The most precious gifts in life are not always ones you can plan and prepare for. I feel humbled that during this stage in our life when we thought the baby thing was over, we get to once again experience this magical time.

I will keep you posted about little peanut and how his/her brothers are handeling this news:) David seems to be clueless but Kyle has enough excitement for all of us! It is going to be a long 32 weeks with him:) Oh, I am about 8 weeks along...Blessings to you:)

My son the critic

I love my Kyle. I love his determined spirit, his emphathetic heart, his sensitive soul, and his current appetite. The boy is six and frankly he is eating us out of the house at home. As some of you know, I am on this healthy organic eating kick where I am buying all our meat at a local organic farm. My friend Suzanne and I are having a love-affair with the meat from this local farm. We have spent a lot of time on the phone lately discussing the dinnertime successes we have had with the meat we are buying!

Anyway, at the Halloween party at Suzanne's house she graciously made pigs in a blanket and did not mind that my child consumed most of them:) My boy loves a good pig in the blanket! So I decided to be supermommy today and get the right ingredients for these things and make them tonight (with organic mac and cheese and organic grapes to balance out my guilt)!

I called suzanne from the grocery story and got the exact brands that she uses to make these magical pigs in a blanket. Mike has a board meeting tonight so I thought it would be a nice treat to make these for my boys. First off, David hated them and put his on Kyle's plate and feasted on the grapes-fine with me.

I then asked Kyle if they were good and my son, the food critic obviously, louldly announced that they were good, but they were "missing a little flavor from Mrs. Suzanne's." Whatever-I hope he enjoys the organic broccoli and other veggies I can find for dinner tomorrow night!!!:)

Magical Day

You know, there are just some days that you know you will remember for a very long time. Today, was one of those days. Today was our 2nd annual Down Syndrome Buddy Walk to celebrate the lives of our babies (no matter how old) with Down Syndrome. About two years ago, Mike and I along with our friends, The Burkett's started a family group for families with Down Syndrome. We LOVE our group and I can honestly say it is the most wonderful party you will ever attend. This group of people LOVE their children, are PROUD of their children, and frankly we just get together to corporately celebrate the blessing that they are. We all feel that God has blessed us with these angel babies and we get together once a quarter or so to love on these kids and to celebrate their accomplishments.

Today was an extra special gathering due to the weather. We were blessed with a 70 degree day in November which is really rare for this area. We were suppose to gather in a church fellowship hall, but last minute we moved the event to a local park with a playground and shelter area. We had a great turnout of families, friends who just love our kids, our beloved pediatrician and her boys, and a few extra special teachers who took their weekend time to come support our kids. We also had a sweet community couple who just came to show their appreciation for our group. I was overwhelmed with the turnout and humbled to think that David and his friends could impact that many people. You know, all we are hearing from the media right now is scary news, but at this gathering today you could not have been more blessed by the upbeat and positive attiude that was present.

I was just so overwhelmed with love from this community of family and friends that I just had to post some pictures from this magical day blessed by God.


Princess Caroline loving the slide:) Her 1st grade teacher even came to show her love for Caroline:)
My sweet boys along the walk.
Walking along the sidewalk. We walked beside a very busy street which was a little nervewracking for all of us:) People were pretty respectful and let us pass!
David playing with his friends:)
Caroline and Mrs. Libby

Night of Fun

Halloween night was a lot of fun! We headed out with some neighborhood friends (we grew into a posse as the night went on) to trick or treat around our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is very hilly (we do live in the mountains) and it was such a test of endurance! We had one little episode where a neighborhood dog (on a leash thankfully) thought David was a squirrel instead of a cute monkey and got a little aggitated. I just had to share some pictures to document our night.
Kelsey and David prancing down the street:)

Kyle (aka Michael Phelps) and neighborhood friend, Tanner (aka ninja boy) getting ready to head out for some fun!
David was so excited to get an apple that he bit right into it:) I would have been horrified if it wouldn't have been from a neighbor that we love named "Poppy." He is Tanner and Kelsey's grandfather and he lives on the street. Our kids hit the jackpot there and David was so excited with his apple!

Kyle and friend Joseph knocking on a neighborhood door:)

Here is David (aka monkey) and Kelsey (aka Brat cheerleader). Check out Kelsey's black high-heeled boots:) she lasted about 6 houses before she was begging for her tennis shoes. David insisted to wear his nice church boots with his costume. After trick or treating we went to a local high school football game between two undefeated teams. David REFUSED to take his monkey costume off to go to the game and wore it all night long at the football game. He was probably the warmest person at the game!

Heading out for fun!

Michael Phelps and Curious George the monkey sharing some brotherly love:)
The kids have been in their costumes for 30 minutes waiting to head out on the town for some halloween fun. Before we went, I just had to share some a picture of them in their costumes:) Happy Halloween!

Magic Table

Tonight was such a blast! We went with Lynn and her kids to Suzanne's house for a halloween party. Suzanne is an amazing cook and truly goes all out for this event. Last year she hosted this party and we all had such fun that Lynn and I shamelessly invited ourselves back this year:) We (I mean the children) had such a good time that we had to repeat it again this year.:)

Suzanne's house is like none I have ever been to. She is totally relaxed about her house and no part of her house is off limits to kids. Both of her children have autism and they do not like traditional pictures and knick knacks on the walls, they much prefer holiday scenes on the walls. Suzanne embraces this and goes all out. It is always magical at Suzanne's house! She had huge pumpkins out for the kids to carve and we also had monster houses for the kids to decorate. Kyle's favorite part was a trampoline in the middle of their family room:) We have to get one for Kyle's boundless energy!

The most magical part of Suzanne's house is her kitchen table. She is such a great cook and there is something magical about her kitchen table. I feel relaxed and always eat way too much! She always has girls come and help with the kids which allows us to have time to sit and chat. Tonight was a little hectic due to some pottying accidents on David's part and a little "lock my keys in the car" moment, but it was just as magical as last year. My belly is still full of good food and I still have the glow from good fellowship.

Lynn and I talked earlier in the day about the details of the night and we were both so giddy to go ourselves. Suzanne's house is one of the only houses I have ever taken my kids to that I feel totally relaxed-I think it has to do with the yummy comfort food she always serves:)

I just had to share some pictures of the evening...my kids are both sleeping off their sugar high from all the good food:)

David thoroughly enjoying his cupcake.
Kyle and Heath posing for me!
Each child received one of these as a souvenir from the party. My kids were in heaven:)

Suzanne's magical setting! Her home is decorated for most holidays with scenes all over her walls. I am amazed-Martha Stewart needs to take some notes:)

Self-proclaimed control freak!

Okay, I admit it-I watched the clock all morning at preschool until I could dismiss my students and meet David and his Prek class at Hungry Mother Park for their field trip. I let him ride on the bus with the class but I assured the teachers I would meet them there when preschool was over.

I know the teachers watch him closely and love him, but the control freak that I am made it hard for me to relax until I could get out there. They spent the day at the park to study the leaves, cook their own lunch over an open fire, roast marshmellows, and play in tents that were set up. I could just see David stumbling into the campfire or running towards the lake.

As I pulled up I was humbled by the fact that most of my fears were not even feasible. For one, the water had been drained from the lake and the open campfire that I was so horrified to think about was actually raised off the ground and was guarded at all times by an adult. My other fear was that David would just wander off into the woods and be lost forever. It never occurred to me until I saw it with my own eyes that David was having way too much fun to go anywhere. He had a ball and it was so amazing to watch him with his peers that it almost made me forget that he had just eaten a very cheap and sketchy hotdog that I do not think was cooked completely!!!!

God uses days like today to remind me that He loves David way more than I do and that He watches over him at all times. While I was finishing my preschool day and totally fretting for David's safety, he was safe under God's watchful eyes. It was a humbling lesson for me today:) I just had to share some pictures of David's first big boy field trip!

Here he is enjoying his smore. He liked it but much preferred just the chocolate!

David roasting his hot dog over the open fire:)


David peeking out of one of the tents that was set up for playing and reading stories.

Because of David

Caroline and David had a ball together today. In this picture, Caroline is instructing David on how to get a strike:)

Mike and David bowling. David uses the ramp and actually gets some strikes:)

Mike and the birthday girl, Jessica!

Caroline and David-David's face is scrunched up because he was saying "cheeeeeese!"

Because of our sweet David, today we got to have a ball at our local bowling alley. One of our friends, Jessica, from our Down Syndrome group was turning 30 and we had to get together to celebrate! If we had not been blessed with David, we would never have gotten the opportunity to meet the people that are special in our life like our friends from our Down Syndrome Group.

Jessica wanted a bowling party and the must have people on her guest list were David, Caroline, and Dr. Robinson! She loves Mike for some reason and so after church today we all headed to the bowling alley to bowl, eat pizza and cake, and have fun with Jessica. I am embarrassed to admit how many frosted cookies David ate and how much Diet Sprite Kyle drank. As some of you know, I am on this organic, healthy eating kick due to a book I read recently and I think my kids were SO HAPPY to have access to junk that they took full advantage of it:)

I just had to share some pictures from the party!:) Have a great week!

Being a Sports Mommy

Often there are roles that you play in life that you don't choose. Being a sports Mom is a title that I have simply because I am the blessed mother of two boys. I relish the many titles that I have, but sports mommy is a title that can be wonderful, but it can come with its challenges.

This past week was Kyle's last football game. We were in a celebratory mood getting ready for the game because Kyle's team was undefeated and if they won they could be the champions. But, most importantly, Kyle was celebrating that it was OVER! Even though he is fast and can run some touchdowns, he hated the hitting and tackling part and was scared to death the whole game. Mike and I made him finish the season to honor his committment and this week I have been using this as an example of a time that he could be proud of himself because he had overcome a fear and honored a committment by finishing the season. I was such a proud Momma because Kyle truly perservered through this season and had every reason to be proud.

When we got in the car, I congratulated Kyle and treated him to ice cream when we got home. It was just such a lesson for me to train up my boys to value the things that are truly important and that winning is when you give it your all and play even when you are scared. Also, that winning doesn't always mean that the scoreboard is in your favor. Kyle is a winner because he followed through on his promise and did something that scared him to death. I wonder if they can put all that on the championship trophy.... :) Have a great day!

Fun family time

This past weekend we spent Friday night and Saturday in Roanoke for a swim meet. It was an interesting night in our hotel. Kyle woke up at 3 a.m. crying with his ear. We didn't know what to do-do we go home and wait until the doctor opens up or do we stay and try to get meds? Mike decided to go to Walmart and see what he could come up with. He came back with Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and swimmers ear meds since Kyle is prone to that. Not only was Kyle crying with his ear, but he was crying because he wanted to swim. Anyway, the meds worked and Kyle somehow was able to swim. He had fun at the meet and actually got a first and second place!:) My parents came down for the day to watch Kyle swim and Hunter play soccer.

Then, we got to meet up with Chad, Annettte, and Clayton for lunch and some shopping before we went to Hunter's soccer game. Hunter is on a soccer team in Roanoke, called Roanoke Stars. It was fun to watch his game, even though they played a really good team from Charlotte. Not only was it fun to watch Hunter, but it was amazing to watch Clayton romance and woe the other little girls there to watch the game. I have never seen such a Romeo before:)

Kyle and David enjoyed their cousins-with Mike's brother and my brother both busy and not living in our town, cousin time is really precious to my boys. I really had planned to get a little shopping done on this quick trip, but time with family is way more important.


Kyle, David, and Clayton playing a little football before Hunter's game began.

Clayton had moved his little chair over to this blanket where these cute girls were playing and once he got settled, he gave us a thumbs up! What a little romeo!

Clayton and David found a different group of little girls to play Simon Says with

Go Hunter go! He is in the blue jersey:)

Rainy afternoon thoughts

It is raining here today. The children have no afterschool activities except for church tonight. Mike has gone to an evening meeting, so I was looking at a lesiurely afternoon with my boys. I dug through my halloween stuff and found some pumpkin painting stuff that I bought last year dirt cheap. I gave the boys two pumpkins and look at the final result!

Halloween has been a sticky subject this year due to Kyle's interest in costumes that I do not agree with. We sat down and looked at some costume sites on the internet to find a costume we can both be happy with. I am not joking, but two costume options under kid boys were "hellboy" and "whitey tighty." I was dumbfounded! What exactly is hellboy I will never know, and for whitey tightey, just picture a boy with his pants hanging down to his ankles showing his white underwear-what is this world coming to?! I will keep you posted on the final costume choice... David's was bought weeks ago and he loves it:) He is going to be a monkey!!!!

This week has been sad as we had to say goodbye to Lynn's mother-in-law, Carole. She spent five days in the hospital before she went home to be with Jesus. I went to the service on Monday and was so touched to hear that Carole and her husband, T.W. went to 49 out of the 50 states-they lacked Hawaii! Her life is such a lesson to live fully-thankfully she didn't wait until retirement to do all those trips-she was scheduled to retire on 12/31 of this year. I was so inspired from her service and her life to not wait and procrastinate all those "to do" list items. I often postpone things for silly reasons-wait until the kids get bigger, wait until David is fully potty-trained, wait until Kyle is older, etc.. If I have been reminded of one thing this week, it is to LIVE FULLY and LOVE MUCH!

Enjoy the pumpkin painting pictures and I will keep you posted about Kyle's final costume choice-you can bet it will not be hellboy or whitey tightey!!:)

Sick Day

David has been home the last two days with croup and an ear infection. He has had some breathing issues which has made us pull out his nebulizer. David has actually enjoyed his breathing treatments. This morning he was doing one and I stepped out of the room to get a tissue and this is what I found when I came back in the room. Obviously Elmo has croup also!! Maybe David has a future as a respiratory therapist!!:)

A Night to Remember

Sometimes in life there are unexpected blessings that you know only come from God. Today was one of those. Recently I posted about a young man (Frank)that wrote an article about the movie, Tropic Thunder. The article really tugged at Lynn and my heartstrings as we realistically saw how this young man with Down Syndrome felt the discrimination that often comes in this society. Well tonight, David and I got a chance to have dinner with him!

Frank and his mother, Cornelia had come to our school system to speak to the students during bully prevention week. I did not get to hear his speech, but I did get to sit around a dinner table with him tonight. On my right side, sat Frank who was full of jokes and one-liners. He looked across the table at my David and said "one day you will learn David that there is nothing more yummy than a pair of ladies' lips!" We all rolled!:)

On my other side, sat his dear mother, Cornelia. I had so many questions for her, but I didn't want to dare miss a moment of Frank on my other side. I don't even remember what I ate at this special dinner. Also attending, were Carol and her young adult daughter Jessica who has DS and our friends, Kilby, Seth, and Brittany. Needless to say I cannot believe we didn't get kicked out of the restaurant we laughed so hard.

Frank's mother offered a blessing for our food that made tear drops fall into my food. She thanked the Lord for special children like David, Jessica, and Frank that were put here for His purpose and to give Him glory. Not only did we have a delightful time laughing and carrying on, but I just wanted to fall on my knees and thank the Lord for this amazing oppotunity. Without David, I would not have appreciated the experience I was blessed to be apart of tonight.

Cornelia and I briefly shared the trials that raising a child with DS can offer, but oh the laughter, love, and comraderie that was around that table tonight was something to behold. I needed this boost today after the sad news that my friend Lynn's wonderful mother-in-law is in the hospital after suffering a serious stroke. The only thing missing around that table tonight was Lynn and her precious Caroline!

I was mesmerized with Frank tonight as I watch him read and study the menu at the restaurant. He could live indepedently, but chooses to live with his parents. He works in a bakery and took great detail to explain to us all the goodies he makes. His mother often looked at him with such pride and often would bury her head as he told one last joke! I will carry this experience around in my heart for a very long time.

Striper pictures

I got an email today that took me by surprise. My dad who does not often email me sent me one today with the title "striper picture." My mouth dropped open as I opened that email. Clearly, I am not a good speller and he sent me a great picture of my nephew, Hunter with a big striper fish! I thought for a split second that my Dad was not the virtuous church deacon that I thought and that maybe he was interested in strippers:) That is what happens when you try to multi-task!!!!

Anyway, here is a great picture of Hunter with a huge striper FISH that he caught!! Hunter is a really cool 12 year old. He and my brother, Chad have enjoyed their new boat on Smith Mountain Lake. My Dad joined them to catch stripers, not strippers this past weekend.

Swimming Dude

The alarm went off very early this morning. Mike and I were so tired, but excited for Kyle as he took part in his first USA swim meet in Johnson City. Kyle was so nervous last night, but this morning he was excited to see his friends and try to improve his swim times. He swims in the 8 and under group, which is pretty daunting for a six-year old! He did awesome and improved his times and placed first in his heat for freestyle and backstroke. It was a fun family outing as we cheered for Kyle and his other teammates. I thought David would be a challenge to keep up with, but surprisingly he did well:) Despite the ridiculously early times for warmups, this swim team thing is fun family time!

p.s. I cannot believe this, but Mike took the pictures today. He volunteered to man the camera, and I am impressed with his results.

Glimpses of Success

Being a Mommy is so hard and lately I have really struggled with how to properly raise my sons. My nature is to hover over them and smother them with love and nurturing. But lately, I have realized the need for tough love with Kyle, especially. Last week was a tough week for Kyle as he decided he did not want to play football anymore. What a tough one for this Mommy also. Our house rule is that you must follow through on a committment, but this is a hard committment to keep since it possibly involves bodily injury:) After a long evening, Kyle decided that maybe he will stick it out with football after all.

Anyway, as we were struggling all week with how to handle this football situation, I got a note home from Kyle's teacher reporting that he had earned enough Kid Cash to have lunch with ANYONE in the building. (Kid cash is a positive behavior program where children earn "kid cash" for good behavior). Kyle could have chosen anyone-his cool first grade friends, teachers, etc.. but he chose David. After such a tough week where Mike and I (actually just me) struggled with a tough decision, we saw a glimmer of success-Kyle chose his brother first and foremost. I do not know if this is always how it will be with these two, but at this moment in time, Kyle would rather have lunch with his four-year old brother than anyone. Needless to say, this mommy's heart was full of pride and love. Often when times are tough is when we appreciate these small glimmers of success that maybe as parents we are getting it right more often than we give ourselves credit for it.

p.s. As I write this post, my boys are having a major standoff over a big yellow bucket in our family room. Perhaps this lunch date was a once in a lifetime encounter:)

Previous Post

Hey! For some reason, on my last post (Future Olympian?) the words did not come up always?! It is above this techno-wannabe's head as to why, but I just wanted to clarify what David was doing in those picture. A new gymnastics facility has opened here recently and I signed David up for a tumble tykes class with several of his girlfriends. (There are several boys in the class, which made Mike happy!) Anyway, we enrolled him in this class to work on his weak tummy muscles. As you can see from the pics, he LOVED every moment of it, and it still showing off his stamp he got for good behavior! It was such joy to watch him!:) Enjoy the pics and have a great day:)

Future Olympian?!

Today David started gymnastics class! He is in a class called Tumble Tykes at a new gymnastics facility here. We were so excited for him to have this opportunity to work on his weak tummy muscles and have fun with his friends! David knew many of the children in the class and surprisingly he did awesome! We got in the car to go home, and he signed "more!"


Touching his toes in the warmup! He stayed on his carpet square and seemed to love the warmup moves:) David is checking out the girl beside him!

Jumping into the foam ball pit. At first he was a little leery, but he loved it!

Oops..what is a little gymnastics without a face plant or two! Mike was sitting behind me and you heard a collective gasp from him and the other parents. David just jumped right up and kept jumping on the tumble track. I don't think Mike will come again to watch David, I think this one class did his nerves in!:)

Is this not the cutest picture! They were suppose to be jumping like a pencil with their arms straight up in the air. I believe David is getting ready for Christmas early with his reindeer antlers!!:) What a cutie:)